School Propaganda In Texas

If you ever thought that the word “indoctrination” is overused by conservatives as it relates to the education of our children, check out the following document given out by a teacher in Texas to her high school goverment class. She distributed this without parental consent, and did not allow her students to take the paper home. I think you can see why. Notice first how the “angel” is beside “Liberals,” and the “devil” is beside conservative.

Roosevelt High School (NEISD) teacher Barbara Geerdes did just that when she passed out the handout, “Philosophical Differences Between Liberals and Conservatives,” (shown below) to her AP U.S. Government class.

A student in Barbara Geerdes’ AP Government class grew concerned over the teacher’s repeated politicization of the classroom and managed to get one of the documents out and brought it home, where he could show it to his parents.
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The handout starts off by saying, “Philosophical differences… separate liberals and conservatives. The greatest areas of disagreement concern human nature, reliance on tradition, and individual freedom.” The handout continues on, calling conservatives pessimists who think people are “tainted by original sin” and liberals optimists who think people are “basically good.” It says that liberals allow people a great amount of liberty, while conservatives feel people must be controlled, restrained, and guided for their own best interests. (What?!) Throughout the handout, “liberal” is likened with the word “constitutional” while “conservative” is likened with the word “authoritarian.” At the end of the discussion, there is a chart for students to fill in, reiterating the statements made about liberals and conservatives.

The statements are completely fallacious and clearly intended to deceive the students. What student would want to admit to being conservative after reading this? The handout had no author listed or any sources. Barbara Geerdes could very well have written the entire discussion herself. Furthermore, she knew that what she was doing was wrong- why else would she not allow the papers to be taken home?